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Charlotte Richardson
by George J. Dance Charlotte Caroline Richardson (1775 - September 26, 1825) was an English poet. Life Richardson was born Charlotte Caroline Smith at York, under "most unfavourable" circumstances. When she was 12 she was admitted to the City Grey Coat Charity School, a trade school, but at 16 she left and went into domestic service. In 1802 she married a shoemaker named Richardson. However, he died just two months after the birth of their first child,Charlotte Richardson 1775-1825, Poetry Foundation, Web, Nov. 22, 2012.? in 1804, leaving her destitute.Elizabeth Lee, "Charlotte Caroline Richardson, Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 48, 223. Wikisource, Web, Nov. 21, 2012. Richardson, in mourning, began writing poetry; and some of her poems found their way into the hands of a Mrs. Cathrine Cappe, who was impressed enough by the poems and seek out their author, whom she found to be both deserving and destitute. Mrs. Cappe launched an appeal, in the Gentleman's Magazine, for subscriptions to print a volume of Richardson's poetry for her benefit. The subsription drive was a success – Anna Laetitia Barbauld, and the firm of Longman & Co., were among the subscribers – and Mrs. Richardson's Poems Written on Different Occasions was published in 1806. The book sold 600 copies over and above the subscribed amount.. Richardson opened a school with the proceeds.William Cartwright Newsam, "Charlotte Richardson", Poets of Yorkshire (Groombridge & Sons, 1845), 124. Google Books, Web, Nov. 21, 2012. Illness later forced Richardson to give up teaching and close her school. Catharine Cappe again came to her rescue and raised a subscription to pay for a second volume of her verse, Poems Chiefly Composed Under the Pressure of Severe Illness, published in 1809.Poems : chiefly composed during the pressure of severe illness / by Charlotte Richardson, SearchWorks, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford University, Web, Nov. 21, 2012. Richardson also wrote two long poems that were published in her lifetime: "Harvest, A poem" (published as Harvest, A poem, in two parts; with other poetical pieces in 1818); and Ludolph; or, The light of nature: A poem (published in 1823); and a novel. Richardson died in York on September 26,1825, and was buried in St. Michael de Belfry, outside the city walls. Writing "The poems of Charlotte Richardson," wrote William Cartwright Newsam in 1845, "written as they were mostly on local, personal, or evanescent topics, are characterized by correct feeling, and in a remarkable degree, by propriety of diction." The Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) pronounced some 50 years later, though, that "Richardson's verses have little distinction, and are chiefly remarkable as the work of an uneducated woman." Adds the DNB: "The poems are mainly religious or personal, such as paraphrases of passages from the New Testament or addresses to relatives and friends." Publications Poetry * Poems Written on Different Occasions: To which is prefixed some account of the author, together with the reasons which have led to their publication. York, UK: T. Wilson and R. Spence, 1806; Philadelphia, PA: Kimber, Conrad, 1806. *''Poems Chiefly Composed Under the Pressure of Severe Illness''. York, UK: T. Wilson & Son, 1809. * Waterloo: A poem. London: 1815. *''Isaac and Rebecca: A poem''. London: 1817. 2nd edition, London: Darton, Harvey, & Darton, 1818. *''Harvest, a Poem, in Two Parts; with other poetical pieces. London: privately published, printed by William Thorne, 1818. * ''Ludolph, or the Light of Nature, a Poem. London: Sherwood Jones, 1823. Fiction *''The Soldier's Child; or, Virtue triumphant: A novel'' (2 volumes), London: Robinson, 1821. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Charlotte Richardson, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Nov. 1, 2013. See also * List of British poets References External links ;Poems *Stanzas Written April 1808, When Still Under the Pressure of Severe Sickness" *Charlotte Richardson 1775-1825 at the Poetry Foundation ;About *Richardson, Charlotte Caroline in the Dictionary of National Biography Category:1775 births Category:1825 deaths Category:19th-century poets Category:19th-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:English poets Category:English women writers Category:Poets Category:Women poets